Romania

Romania is a country in southeast Europe, its name coming from the fact that it was once a colony of ancient, imperial Rome. Being on the Black Sea makes it an attractive, strategic location for air and naval bases for the alliance. It joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007.

Media
The BBC says of the country's media:


 * The 1991 constitution upholds freedom of expression, but prohibits "defamation of the country". In 2007 the media rights body Reporters Without Borders praised reforms to the criminal code; journalists can no longer be jailed on defamation charges.

Public relations in Romania
In Romania, most advertising firms have been taken over by outside, large, multinational agencies such as Ogilvy, BBDO, and McCann. In contract most public relations firms are still locally owned but according to public relations manager Eliza Rogalski, this may soon change as outside firms become interested in buying up local PR firms.

U.S. military bases in Romania
In 2005, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed a deal that allowed the U.S. to have military bases in Romania, the first country from the former Soviet Union to allow U.S. bases. The U.S. now uses the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base which is just inland from the Black Sea. In 2003 during the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the U.S. was using an air base at Kogalniceanu to send soldiers into Iraq and temporarily kept up to 3,500 soldiers at the base.

The U.S. is shifting some soldiers from bases in western Europe, further east which is angering Russia.

Romania is hoping that the millions of dollars of U.S. money will help the local economy.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to impoverished areas of Europe such as Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria as our new "family of bases".

Leaders

 * Traian Basescu, President since 2004, survived impeachment in 2007

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base
 * Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania
 * U.S. military bases overseas

External articles

 * Petru Clej, "Romanian politics mired in abuse", BBC, May 14, 2007.

External resources

 * Timeline: Romania, BBC, accessed January 2008.